Why personalities like Sam Draper should be celebrated, not gagged

We still have a fair way to go when it comes to creating an environment that encourages players to express their personalities off the field.

There are all these hidden rules on what can and can’t be said that only seem to matter because some people say they should matter.

Sam Draper’s experience after he spoke out of turn on a podcast should not discourage players to be themselves.Credit: AFL Photos

Break them, and you will be cut down.

Think of a few random examples of hidden rules that often guide our reaction when we hear players talk off script:

• Don’t speak your mind unless you are on a winning team. If you are a player from a battling team, zip it up.
• Don’t express how you felt you were treated when you were traded.
• Don’t make an observation about the opposition, or the team you are about to play against.
• Don’t crack gags unless you are getting a kick.

I ask why not?

Taylor Adams does not mind entering the public arena and expressing his viewsCredit: Getty Images

Hearing Taylor Adams articulate how he felt when meeting with Collingwood before he was traded was beneficial to both fans who wanted an insight into what happened, and clubs in understanding how players might feel in such moments.

Watching Tom Liberatore talk on The Front Bar about the reason behind the tattoos stamped on his body a few weeks back had me in stitches. Who doesn’t tattoo a Rosella sauce bottle on their shin simply because they love sauce?

Seeing Sam Draper’s reaction to the crucial decision late in the Bombers’ last-minute win against Adelaide was revealing and hilarious – unless you barracked for the Crows.

We saw the personalities of the players and what made them tick. It was entertaining and informative, and free of the constraints that stop so many players from feeling that it’s OK to reveal themselves to the public.

Crows players react with frustration after a holding the ball decision was not paid against Essendon’s Sam Draper in the dying seconds of their round-six match.Credit: Fox Footy

And creating an environment that allows that to happen is more important than many think because robotic personalities off the field often translate to robotic actions on the field.

With player pathways and school scholarships set up to teach people how they should live every aspect of their lives when they become professional footballers, the system works to dim the personalities made available to the public.

Often it leads to players nowadays becoming comfortable inside their football club more quickly than they become comfortable in the industry and in being themselves in public.

That is not healthy.

Some fear being more relaxed about such matters might push us closer to the brash natures of American sportspeople, but why worry?

Max Gawn is one of the game’s great characters, but we only saw it when Melbourne started winning.Credit: Getty Images

We might not want what America has, but our players do. Our players want to be able to voice their own opinions in their own way.

That doesn’t mean anything goes.

Draper earned the ire of his club because he forgot the simple rule that expressing your thoughts doesn’t give you a licence to denigrate or make life harder for others; that basic respect matters.

But it’s disappointing the backlash means he won’t appear on a podcast this week because of one mistake, an outlet from football that might make him more ready for the reality of life outside the club.

Players only need to understand that having an unregulated platform means you need to think before you speak because offending a group of people, intentionally or unintentionally, will cause a reaction well beyond any you might experience if you make a mistake on the football field.

That’s the real world, too, of course, and perhaps it’s better to protect less and educate and accept more.

How much more compelling is Jack Ginnivan to watch now that we know his personality, love it or hate it. We might, like we watched tennis players such as John McEnroe and Andre Agassi through their careers, see him emerge from villain to sage during his career.

Haven’t Max Gawn and Patrick Dangerfield, and Bob Murphy before them, been enjoyable for both the way they have played the game and their observations of it.

Let sportspeople be themselves when they enter a discussion. React as you might to any other person with a view. The game will be better for it.

And so will those involved. And whether they get a kick or not, their opinion is no less valid.

Mathew Stokes is a Larrakia man who played 200 games with Geelong and Essendon. He played in Geelong’s 2007 and 2011 premiership teams.

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